SAIT vs University for Computer Career

[photon]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I would stress again that software dev/dev ops is only a fraction of what IT is. There is a whole world of operational IT like infrastructure, networking, databases, cybersecurity, business systems, business intelligence, cloud architecture, tech sales & marketing, etc. I guess step one is define what you mean by "computer career".

Yup, and I think it's hard to even get an idea of how interesting many or most of those would be without having some experience.

But gotta start somewhere. Just don't pick web development

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by photon

Yup, and I think it's hard to even get an idea of how interesting many or most of those would be without having some experience.

But gotta start somewhere. Just don't pick web development

Web dev is actually a great place for someone who has technical aptitude and coding ability but also has a creative and artistic side because UI/UX design is also a huge field. Then there is also the back-end side of web development in terms of building a robust and secure web application architecture that can support the front-end services.

[photon]

Agree on back end, but I hate doing anything that deals with browsers!

[Iceman90]

I actually teach programming and back end web development at SAIT and would love to have a conversation with you and/or your son if you want.

I find many students come to us wanting to "do computers" and don't really have any idea what they want to do with computers - and that's not a recipe for success. I know many people who like to code as a hobby, but realize it's not something they want to do full time. I'd suggest your son do some thinking about what aspect of the computer he is interested in - and if needed perhaps consider taking some night courses or online training via LinkedIn Learning (free with a public library membership) to see what excites him. Then he he has some idea what field(s) to explore.

Most SAIT program have transfer options, so you can do "two and two" as we call it - two years at SAIT, and two more at a university to get a Bachelor's Degree later if he or you want that.

SAIT grads are in demand. The graduation stats are on the website and show that our grads are getting jobs in the field. However, they are different jobs than you might get with a Bachelor's Degree. Again, I think knowing that field of computing interests your son would help him to better decide which path is right for him. If your son is interested in Networking, or IT Security, SAIT might be better suited to him for example as they have specialized two year programs in those fields. Maybe his real interest is in the business side. I believe the U of C has a bachelor's program in ecommerce.


Feel free to PM me if you want more info

[Stampede2TheCup]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Well I don't have any first hand knowledge, but there are countless stories of developers burning out due to crunch time, where they work from 80-100 hours a week with no OT

https://www.makeuseof.com/crunch-culture-video-games/

Right now the only people who seem to enjoy making games are the small indie developers, though that usually means they have to have another job as their primary income

I don’t have any firsthand knowledge myself either. If people are burning out of gaming particularly like you said though that sort of overrides most of what I was going to say about the job market. I basically only know about people burning out like that in the software development industry in general, myself included.

One thing that doesn’t fully align with what you’re saying is that there are some bigger development studios here in Vancouver like EA and I think there are supposed to be another couple at least that aren’t small. However, even a couple of them might not be that much of a boon to the job market or do much to the balance of what sort of game development jobs are out there. I have heard that gaming development is pretty good sized out here and is growing, but those are just vague things I’ve been told though.

[psyang]

EA became (in)famous several years ago when EA Spouse posted the realities of an EA game developer.

Now, it seems, is the "real" crunch, the one that the producers of this title so wisely prepared their team for by running them into the ground ahead of time. The current mandatory hours are 9am to 10pm -- seven days a week -- with the occasional Saturday evening off for good behavior (at 6:30pm). This averages out to an eighty-five hour work week.

[TorqueDog]

I should be really well-positioned to answer this question given my job... but I took a really different path to software engineering (product owner, specifically) so I don't really think I can offer a whole lot to your son except to say it's a lot of fun if you get on the right company / team and work on products that interest you.